Third time's a charm (or maybe fourth)
by Lajt Hane
Summary: Aomine really didn't mean to crash into him at Quidditch practice. Hogwart!AU, AoKuro, a little bit of Overprotectice!GOM and Kagami


Series: Kuroko no Basket, Hogwart!AU

Pairing: AominexKuroko, a little bit Overprotective!GOM+Kagami

Genre: Romance, Humor

Rating: PG-13/T

All original characters belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi. All names and places belongs to J.K. Rowling.

For more info see comments below.

Inspired by beautiful pictures of KnB Hogwart!AU from Muffarino. You can find them on her tumblr, so please check it! Especially 90586143330 and 113984592695.

* * *

Well, it started when they were having practice for the incoming Quidditch match. They were facing some school from Finland, who supposedly was very good. So Aomine was pretty excited over it.

"Daiki you can finally land, you had enough practices today. You need to take a rest…"

But Aomine wasn't listening to his captain. He only glanced down at the very mad face of the Slytherin Head Boy Akashi Seijuurou who was currently staring at him with such fury that Aomine was almost sure he can make his broom hail.

Gladly it didn't. His old but gold broom was flying perfectly today (Aomine almost forgot that something was wrong with it yesterday and the day earlier), making him want to fly more than ever.

But of course, his boring Captain decided it was the end of practices.

"Daiki, do not let me repeat myself…"

Aomine rolled his eyes and halted in the air.

"Okay, okay Mister Kill-joy…"

To tell the truth he was glad Akashi couldn't hear him from his position on the ground, because he would probably kill him for that issue. It's just the way he was.

One of their players, Kise flew next to him, making him almost lose his balance or at least this is what he wanted to do. But Aomine knew him too well, knew his broom too well to fall for it.

"Let's go or Akashicchi will kill us!"

The rest of the team was already on the ground chatting about something and waiting for him to land too.

He finally decided to do it. Well he wanted, and he was just about to turn his broom when the loud thunder reverberated and the sky lightened up for a brief second. And this is when his broom decided to lose itself.

Aomine felt as he was suddenly jerked up, high in the sky. He quickly caught the wood, holding firmly onto it. But it wasn't stopping, only moving further and further away.

He heard yelling and screaming from beneath him, but he only had time to steal a quick glance at the ground before his freaking broom decided to stop moving.

And slowly started to fall.

'This wasn't good', was the only thing that appeared in his mind, as his hands and legs were holding onto the now sweaty wood making it very slippery. But he was too high, that falling from it could kill him.

"Aomine what are you doing?!"

It wasn't his fault! He also wanted to know what suddenly happened to his old friend. It never acted like that. Not until recently.

He never was afraid of heights or speed or moving high at very fast speed. This is exactly why he started playing this sport. But there was something in literally falling down, with that twisting feeling of being unable to do anything that made him terrified.

He heard that someone flew past him and tried to grab ahold of his clothes or broom, but it happened too fast that he wasn't able to recognize who this person was. The only thing that mattered was that the ground was too close for comfort.

So Aomine did the only thing he could think of. He hugged his broom tighter (almost cutting the wood with his nails) and murmured.

"Don't kill me, friend…"

And it worked (but Aomine was sure this wasn't a spell). His broom stopped, making his head pretty dizzy but unfortunately the Gryffindor player couldn't be happy about it for long, as it turned and dashed into a totally different direction. At the stands.

Okay, hitting the stand were much better that hitting the ground. And if he was lucky enough he could not have minor injuries. There was no one here at this hour anyway, so he could just jump out and…

His eyes widened when he saw that there was someone sitting peacefully on the Ravenclaw stands with something in his hand.

He heard loud shouts from behind him, he could see as the small silhouette was becoming bigger and bigger. And he was still flying!

This is not gonna end well.

Now, he was so close he could see him clearly. But the boy still was too preoccupied with whatever he was doing to lift his head. Couldn't he hear those shouts coming from the field?

It looked that 'no' was an answer.

Aomine didn't want to die and didn't want to kill anyone in the process of dying himself so he did the only thing that came to his mind.

When he was close enough, he just jumped off it.

"Watch out!"

The boy finally lifted his head and for the brief part of a second Aomine could see fear forming in those two small pools of blue iris.

But the second thing he saw was blackness when he hit him and the stands.

* * *

"It hurts, Midorima!"

The greenhaired boy sighed and pushed his glasses higher.

"Stop complaining, it is your own fault for being so careless!"

This was really bothering him. It wasn't his fault that his broom decided to turn it back… er… brushwood on him. He wanted to land!

"It wasn't my fault! I had no control over it…"

"About that, I took it to Professor to allow him to take a good look on it." Said the redhaired captain who was sitting on the small white chair next to his bed.

Aomine, after the crash, was of course transported to infirmary. The nurse here patched him up nicely and Midorima was now taking care of the small injuries that were left on his arms and legs. He had a talent in medical magic, so the nurse allowed him to do it (it looked also that he was spending a lot of time here).

"See, Akashi trusts me!" said Aomine triumphantly pointing at the boy next to him.

Midorima rolled his eyes and after that, they both heard that low chuckle.

"I didn't say I trust you, I only said that I took it to him…"

Gee, great teammates and friends they were.

For a long time they didn't speak. Well, more like Aomine didn't speak because Midorima and Akashi started talking about some tactic they should use in another match. The match they were practicing for today. They didn't have too much time and now, when he had his broom confiscated what should he do? He can't fly on those old spare brooms! And he had no money for the new one!

Why did it decide to get mad now? It wasn't like he was treating it badly. Okay, he forgot to oil it and change the branches but that was all. So why had it acted like that so suddenly?

Then he heard Akashi saying.

"…and I had to tell Headmaster about the destroyed stands. They should be ready tomorrow…"

Yeah, the stands. That crash was really painful in Aomine's case. He broke an arm and leg…

Then an image that he saw before he crashed appeared in his head. Parted surprised lips, wide eyes, book that had fallen from the knees.

"Hey." He started getting attention from both of his teammates. "What happened to the person I crashed into?"

Midorima stared at him confused, before the realization appeared in his eyes. In Akashi's matter it was different. He answered in no time.

"Ah him? He was cured first and released an hour ago."

Aomine nodded.

"Good then that nothing happened to him."

Midorima frowned and the health spell that his arm was under started to tweak.

"Well if three broken ribs, concussion and displaced shoulder you call 'nothing' then I don't want to know what you call a real injury…" He said in that low tone, used when he was scolding someone.

Aomine hissed. Ouch, that must hurt a lot (in his case he couldn't remember much before he woke up here).

"But he is fine now?" Said-asked Aomine rising his voice only a little.

Midorima snorted and finished his spell with a small movement of his wand. His arm was good as new. The greenhaired got up and turned his back at him and started walking fast in the direction of the door to the storeroom.

"I will bring you gel for your injuries!" He said and disappeared.

Aomine stared at the closed door for few second not really understanding happened. Okay, Midorima looked mad, but hey, nothing really happened? Well beside almost dying that is. So why was he so angry?

"The boy you hit is Shintarou's friend so that's why he is so mad…"

The tanned boy turned to his captain with a slightly surprised look, probably clearly visible on his face. He closed his mouth that was left hanging open until now.

"Ah is that so…"

Akashi crossed his arms and put his one leg on another.

"And I think Shintarou is right…"

"Right in what?"

"You should apologize to him."

Huh, when did they agree on that? When were they talking about it? What part of a big discussion had he just missed. What?

"But I don't know how or who he is?"

"Tetsuya Kuroko – Ravenclaw…" That makes sense they are in the same house. "And you'll think about something…"

Yeah, think. It shouldn't be so bad right? He only needed to think of some way to apologize for breaking three ribs, putting someone in concussion and dislocating his arm. Sounds great… Hehehehe….

Midorima returned holding a small glass with some weirdly purple substance in it.

Yeah, what can be so hard in apologizing to someone.

* * *

Tons of problems could be in thinking about how to apologize to someone. First, Aomine wasn't good in thinking very… problematic. He was a simple man. Yes, no, the end. Second, Aomine wasn't good in apologizing (there was always something embarrassing in it and making him out of his comfort zone in that). So thinking about apologies was a double problem for him.

So he spent the ENTIRE week thinking about how to apologize to someone he doesn't even know for three broken ribs, concussion and dislocation of arm.

So what exactly should he do? Give him Bertie's Botts Every Flavour Beans? Well that would be lame… It should be at least a Cauldron Cake or something like that. Or maybe he should buy him some magazine with sexy model witches (he was a boy, this Kuroko Tetsuya was a boy)? No, this was probably a lame thing to give for apologies.

Then it hit him, when he was laying in his bed in his dormitory at Sunday night.

Why not ask Midorima?

And this is why he sat next to Midorima at lunch break in the Great Hall.

"What are you doing here?" Asked the boy putting away his book and the toast he was currently eating.

Aomine put his elbow on the table and put his head on it.

"How should I apologize to this Kuroko Tetsuya?"

Another snort wasn't something Aomine expected from him. Midorima pushed his glasses higher and grabbed the left toast.

"You ask me. How do you forgive for three broken ribs, concussion and dislocation of arm?"

They will be pointing it out till the rest of his years here, right?

"Come on Midorima, help me! He is your friend, you should know better than me…"

"If I tell you then it won't be apologizing from your heart…"

Who said anything about hearts?

Midorima got up and gathered his things leaving him alone next to the people from a totally different house. Those nerds from Ravenclaw were staring at him like he was some kind of magical animal form, extincted a long time ago.

He followed Midorima with his look as he was exiting the Great Hall. He suddenly turned into the doorway to the person who was passing him. And then it hit him. Of course she will help.

* * *

"Come on Satsuki! Don't be like Midorima!"

The peachhaired girl pouted and added Mandrake root to the blue potion boiling softly in the cauldron. Elixir classes. Oh man, he hated them. But he got them combined with Ravenclaw, which means he could pair up with his childhood friend Satsuki which is nice.

The teacher glared at them and Aomine felt shiver running down his spine so he quickly turned his look to the book.

"Satsuki, I really don't know what to do!"

She rolled her eyes in that manner whenever she was mad at him and frustrated at the same time. She pushed something in his hand and ordered to cut it in cubic pieces.

"Maybe you should just walk to him and apologize?"

"I would do that if I knew how he looks!" He mumbled quietly, more to himself than actually to his friend.

But she heard him and then he felt something stabbing into his side.

"I can't believe you Dai-chan! How can you still not know how he looks!"

It wasn't really his fault. He never really thought about meeting this boy face to face. Sending owl – yes, meeting – no. It was simple.

But not for everyone it looked.

Till the rest of the classes, Momoi wasn't even looking at him, only moving around the cauldron and adding other things. Her eyebrows were very close to each other and she was pouting a lot. Man, why was she so mad about it?

She was also talking to herself about these weird things:

"How can he not recognize his future teammates? Stupid Dai-chan…"

* * *

After another week of being lost he had enough of it. He wanted to be left alone. He had enough of the scolding look from Akashi or mad gazes of Midorima and Satsuki. Even freaking Kise and Kagami were looking angry whenever they see him! What was wrong with all of them?

But most of all he had enough of it himself.

So one late Saturday evening (when everyone was out enjoying the lovely sun outside) he asked Satsuki where could this weird Kuroko Tetsuya be. Her answer was quick and simple – library. But before Aomine could ask how this boy looks (because the image got blurred in his mind due to time) the girl was already gone.

So he found himself alone in the library. Even though exams were not so far away, the hall was empty. Even the always reading Midorima was somewhere with Murasakibara (their Keeper). And to tell the truth Aomine was glad that there was no one here (making his apologies less embarrassing).

But here lies the problem. If this place was empty, then there definitely was no person named Kuroko Tetsuya.

The boy sighed and started to move around the shelves.

He maneuvered around all the room, looking under the tables, walking to the second floor, looking into every corner. But no sight of anyone and especially not a person named Kuroko Tetsuya.

To tell the truth, he was mad. He wanted to finally let this frustration go. He was fed up with not sleeping and thosr glares from his teammates, like he just kicked a puppy. Just exactly who the hell was this Kuroko Tetsuya?!

He felt rage rising inside of him.

So he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Where the hell are you, damn Kuroko Tetsuya!?"

His voice echoed through the empty hall repeating the same name that was on his mind for the past two weeks, over and over again.

He was panting hard, but that sudden burst of anger helped only a little bit. Heck, he had enough, he wanted to apologize, he even walked here on a perfect Saturday afternoon to practice just to apologize. But how can he do it if the said person wasn't here.

Very angrily, he turned around on his heel and made a step forward to leave this place. Just in time to bump into someone.

"Sorry…" He mumbled not even looking down.

"No, it's my fault…"

The person had nice, calm voice (this was the only thing Aomine's brain registered) before it ordered his body to move. So he did, until the person spoke again.

"Erm…You were looking for me?"

Aomine spun around one more time to face the boy.

In front of him stood a boy (definitely a boy, but he already knew that), very small boy to be precise (he was even smaller than Akashi, what the heck). He had baby blue hair, a round small face, petite nose and eyes… oh he remembered those two pools of water. He wore the black robe, even if it was burning hot outside and inside. On his neck, hang a tie. Blue with black stripes. Definitely Ravenclaw.

"You're Kuroko Tetsuya?" Asked Aomine now suddenly at a loss of words.

The boy lifted one of his eyebrows.

"I don't know any other person with that name if you ask me…"

Oh, so it really is him. Aomine felt weird. When he walked inside he was pretty confident and now… he wasn't so confident. Maybe because his mind already thought that this day wasn't the day when he would meet the famous-not-so-famous Kuroko Tetsuya?

Then, all anger flew away from his body in an instant and he just stood there not knowing what to say. Earlier, he had a plan. Very easy, but effective plan… walk to him, say sorry and go away. Great plan in Aomine's opinion.

But suddenly he couldn't remember a single point from his plan. So he only stared at the face that was staring back at him with curiosity written all over it.

In silence… such a weird silence.

Finally the boy opened his mouth.

"So why were you looking for me Aomine-kun?" His own name spoken by the boy sounded… odd. And it made something in his stomach clench. Don't say that he was nervous now! Why was he nervous!

"Ah yes…" Was the only thing that his brain could say in the meantime when it was processing all this situation. "Hey, how do you know my name?"

The boy blinked and tilted his head to the side. His lips formed a thin line before he answered.

"Well you're a star of all school. Not to mention you're friends with Midorima-kun, Momoi-san, Kagami-kun…"

And this was the perfect time for Aomine's brain to shut down. He wasn't totally sure why it suddenly decided to shut down. It looked like there was not only something wrong with his broom, but also his head. The only thing he could do was stare right into the boy's eyes.

Huh boy, that was definitely weird. He felt like he was doing it for some time now, because suddenly, the boy was very close to him and waving his hand in front of his eyes.

"Did you hear me, Aomine-kun? Is there something on my face?"

The tanned boy shook his head quickly and then clapped his cheeks. Stupid head, not helping at all, thinking about weird things, doing weird things, forgetting things.

Ah about forgetting things!

"No! No, no, no there is nothing on your face…" Kuroko lifted one of his eyebrows and the small wrinkle that appeared on his nose made him look more childish. "But I get your point. I'm pretty famous…" Something in the look he received was telling him that he said something wrong, but didn't understand what. So he paid it no attention and moved on. He cleared his throat and put his hand behind his head. "And I came here to say sorry…"

Wow, it wasn't so bad. The words even just slipped past his mouth. Why was he scared for it? No, erase that, Aomine wasn't scared. He wasn't scared of anything. Maybe bees… Only bees. But coming back to the topic.

"For what are you apologizing?"

"You know…" He scratched his head. "For breaking three of your ribs, getting you into concussion and dislocating your arm…" He said it mechanically, because the sentence engraved in his head. Everyone was pointing that out.

For a few seconds, the boy didn't react. He was staring at him with that emotionless look (that made him sweat) until the corner of his lips moved up, just a few millimeters or so.

"Apology accepted."

Wow, that was fast.

They stood another minute or so in that awkward silence. Aomine apologized, so this was out of the way. So what should he do now? Was he supposed to do something anyway? He can't just turn around and walk away. He doesn't even want that.

So what does he really want? He wasn't totally sure. He just… suddenly wasn't in the mood to go out anymore. Unless Kuroko goes with him. Wait? Did his brain just really thought that? Erase that, erase!

"So if that was all then I need to move…"

The bluehaired walked past him into the direction of the exit and Aomine turned around and caught to him in no time.

"Where are you going?"

"Greenhouse. I need to check on the project I'm making with Midorima-kun."

Aomine nodded.

"I'll walk you." He said.

Kuroko stared at him, but his eyes showed nothing. Or at least Aomine couldn't read them.

"Sure…"

Aomine wasn't sure why he asked to accompany the smaller boy.

They walked around the school almost meeting no soul alive. Well almost, they met few ghost (and Kuroko greeted every one of them, and they did it back, always with the same small smile, like they just met an old friend).

"You're pretty popular in underworld…" He said when they met one ghost from the Dungeons. Whenever he passed him he always had that frown plastered on his face, but now when Kuroko greeted him he acted cheerful.

"As you could already see I have very small presence, so people often lost track of me or didn't even see me. But surprisingly with the ghosts it is a totally different matter…"

Aomine felt something forming in his throat making it hard to swallow.

"Don't tell me you're a ghost too!?"

"I'm not a ghost. You bumped into me right?"

Ah, that was right. Aomine didn't pass through smaller boy's body. So he was alive, that was good.

"And also… how did you say it? You broke three of my ribs, gave me concussion and dislocated arm…"

"You'll be pointing that out too, Tetsu?"

Kuroko corrected the hold on his three giant books. What gave Aomine the idea that maybe they weigh too much, so he bend down and took all three of them. The boy only nodded.

"Tetsu?" He asked when they both started walking again.

Oh, yeah, that short name just passed his lips. But it sounded nice. Tetsu, Tetsu, Tetsu… he liked the ring of it.

"Yeah, saying Te-tsu-ya all the time is too long, so Tetsu it is…"

"But you're speaking A-ka-shi all the time, not to mention Mi-do-ri-ma. And please don't forget Mu-ra-sa-ki-ba-ra…"

Was he messing with him? Okay, he wasn't sure why this nickname was made or why he specifically told it now.

"Okay, okay, I get the idea…" He mumbled and looked to the side and the painting there was passing by. The man on it blinked at him. What the heck did that mean?

"I like that."

"So it's good then…"

They didn't speak until they were out.

"You're at fifth year too?" asked Aomine, when they passed some girl from first year. She looked at him and giggled. Many girls were doing that whenever they saw him.

Tetsu nodded.

"Yeah. Same as you, Aomine-kun."

"Why is it that I've never seen you?"

"Remember the part about my low presence?"

Ah that.

In another few not-so quick steps they were standing in front of the greenhouse, the end of Kuroko's destination. Aomine looked up at the glass rooftop and then at the glass walls, then at the tables filled with different plants (he knew he should know the names for all of them, but he didn't, he never learned half of them) and then at the boy in front of him.

Kuroko bowed (making him uncomfortable one more time).

"Thank you for walking me here. I'll be going now…"

Aomine nodded, because he didn't know what else he can actually do.

Kuroko was staring at him, like he expected something else, some words to be said, or some movement, but when he wasn't given any of this, he turned around.

"Bye, then, Aomine-kun…"

And then it hit him. Maybe they should hang out. Well it would be natural right? They both have the same friends, not to mention he was at the stands when they were practicing. So maybe they should he see each other tomorrow at lunch.

Yeah, sounds about right.

So Aomine moved to the boy, and opened his mouth.

"Hey, Tetsu, do you…"

Said boy turned his head to him with his one hand at the doorknob and another holding onto the books. Aomine moved to put his hand on the door and help him get inside (and of course said what he wanted to say), but he didn't thought about the fact, that Kuroko could lose his hold on the half opened door, so leaning on them could make Aomine fall.

Fall directly onto Kuroko Tetsuya.

And this is exactly what he did.

He closed his eyes and not so long after, he heard and felt a loud crash (it looked like they also hit some kind of bucket on the way) and they both landed on the cold, concrete floor in the greenhouse.

Aomine opened his eyes and blinked few times.

"Oh shit, sorry Tetsu, my hand slipped…"

He looked down at the boy beneath him who had his eyes closed. Well, not shut tightly like he should have. They were closed. His face was relaxed.

Aomine slowly moved up, but still on his knees, he waved his hand in front of Kuroko's closed eyes, hoping that sudden change of shadow will make him open his eyes.

"Hey, Tetsu, are you okay?"

But he wasn't answering.

Oh great, Aomine…

* * *

"I can't believe how you can do it once again?!" Yelled Midorima just right into his ear.

Aomine put both hands on his ears trying to prevent a little amount of the loud sound coming into it, but it didn't help. The voice rang in his head for a long time.

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't know he wasn't holding onto the doors…"

The greenhaired boy hit him with the quaffle right in the center of his forehead. Damn that accuracy.

"Dumb Ahomine! How can you apologize to someone and then make him lose his consciousness a few minutes later. And not to mention sprainhis wrist!"

Yeah, he really fucked things up. But this time it wasn't his fault (not that the first time was his fault), he really wanted to help. Fate wasn't on his side, that was all!

"I said sorry!"

"Not to me, to Kuroko!"

Yeah, he should do that…

"Both of you, quiet down!"

Akashi glared at them from the end of the field and they both became silent (with Midorima still glaring at him and mumbling probably not so nice words under his breath).

Aomine huffed and moved to the center of the field where Kise was playing with his bat. The tanned boy looked around.

"Where is Bakagami, I was supposed to practice dodging bludgers with him…"

The blondhaired boy looked up at him.

"Kagamicchi is with Kurokocchi in infirmary…"

Kurokocchi? What, what? Why was everyone suddenly very close friends with Kuroko! What was happening around him?

"How do you know Tetsu?"

Huffelpuff beater looked at him like he was the dumbest person on the earth. Or at least in entire school in that matter.

"He helped me last year with Ancient Runes… Not to mention he is…"

But of course Aomine's brain stopped progressing what the blond boy was telling him. Kagami was visiting Tetsu? Why? Tetsu was from Ravenclaw and Kagami was with him in Gryffindor… so why should he visit him.

He suddenly felt very angry at that idea.

"And how about your broom?"

"I think it's fine for now. Professor didn't found anything wrong with it…"

And this was worrying him. He preferred to think something was wrong, then have it repaired to be sure it works, than do nothing and waiting for another crazy moment. But for now, he couldn't do anything with it.

* * *

"From where do you know Tetsu?" he asked suddenly when they were sitting in their dormitory that late evening. They both had a lot of work to catch up with due to their hard practices and Midorima said that he won't do a thing in that matter. So they were left alone. To do. Their homework…

Kagami lifted his head from the essay he was writing from the History of Magic, but he only had written like one sentence.

"Ah, Kuroko, he is my neighbor in Middlesbrough… Well we knew each other even when we were little kids, but I've never known that he was a wizard… It's a shame we didn't end up in the same house."

Aomine lifted his eyebrow and put his pen in the inkwell. The nib hit the bottom. It looked like he neede to order a few things. Or maybe Hogsmeade is a shop with that kind of things. Satsuki will definitely know.

"Wait you live next to each other and you didn't know he was a wizard?"

Kagami nodded and scratched the back of his head.

"Well yeah. He only lives with his father, so I never found out that his mom was a witch. Well not until he also got a letter…"

But the weirdest thing is that Aomine knew Kagami since their first year here and he never knew he had such a close friend in the opposite house. Man, he really should be more interested in his friends' life. He wondered if Kagami ever introduced Kuroko to him. Maybe Aomine forgot about the boy in an instant? That would be bad.

"Why are you so interested in him?"

Was he interested? Pff, nah it wasn't like he was thinking about him, like that small boy was intriguing him and definitely he had no pangs of conscience. Nuh uh. There was no way.

But the twisting feeling inside his stomach and now chest was back, so he curled up in bed and tried to finish his homework.

* * *

"Hello again, Aomine-kun…"

Aomine jumped hearing the calm voice of the boy. Yeah, he was standing under the door to the Ravenclaw tower (that dumb eagle knocker was asking him pretty weird questions), yes, he was waiting for the boy, but that doesn't mean anything. He still was surprised to hear this voice so suddenly.

"Don't scare me like that, Tetsu…" He murmured.

The boy blinked few times.

"I said I have very low presence…"

"I know!"

"If you're waiting for Momoi-san then she went out."

Now it was Aomine turn to blink.

"No, actually I wanted to meet you." Wow, that sound… totally embarrassing and cheesy. But it wasn't supposed to sound like he was some kind of unrequired lover. Argh, stop thinking like that, dumb Ahomine. Nope, not lover.

"Ah, okay, so what do you want?"

Still with that same peaceful, emotionless face. Does he ever have any emotions painted on them. The only thing Aomine saw him was to blink, frown and lift his eyebrow (occasionally move the corner of his lips).

"I wanted to apologize… once again… for injuring you…"

The boy stared at him (and in the mean time someone walked out of the door, not paying attention to them) and nodded, like he acknowledged something.

"Maybe you have a curse."

"What?"

"I met you two times and I already got injuried twice. Maybe it is a bad spell?"

What the heck was he talking about?

Aomine was staring at that deadpanned face not sure if the boy was dead serious or was making fun of him (please, the second option, Aomine didn't want to be cursed).

"It was a joke…"

That's fine then. Aomine exhaled the air he was holding for the pause they both had.

"It was a really bad joke."

Kuroko smiled a little bit and the tanned boy felt something rising inside of him. Maybe it was a sudden rush of heat, because he felt as his cheeks got warmer and probably turned into a soft shade of pink. Glad it wasn't so lighten up here.

"Where are you going?" He asked instead, holding up the conversation.

"To tell the truth I was going to the Quidditch field to cheer on Midorima-kun and Kagami-kun…"

Ah yeah, training! He also should get going. This is why his broom was with him, standing next to him, leaning on the wall like one… sexy broom (maybe there really was something wrong with his head, that dumb ideas and thoughts).

"Great, me too, so let's go!"

Kuroko didn't complain.

Most of the road Aomine talked and the boy only listened to what he was saying. Only a few times, he interrupted him with his own story (one about Midorima on Transfiguration, when he was stuck with rabbit tail for two hours and second about his meeting with Kagami on the Platform Nine and Three Quarters on the first year).

He wanted to hear more about Kuroko, but it looked like the boy wasn't in the mood to talk about himself, so Aomine talked about himself, school, classes, homework, just everything that came to his mind. But Kuroko didn't looked dissatisfied (what was making Aomine ridiculously happy).

Soon, they arrived at the field and moved to the center where a small group of his teammates was now forming.

"I will say 'hi' to Midorima-kun and Kagami-kun and move to the stands. Please don't crash into me this time…"

Aomine tightened his grip on the broom and felt it vibrating.

"I said I'm sorry…"

"I know, I'm only teasing you…"

It was a nice walk. Yeah, Aomine wasn't ever fan of boring walks where you only step forward and talk – blah, blah, blah. But now he felt like he could maybe do another round around school? Maybe after practices. Yeah, why not.

So he turned to the boy (because they were still far enough to ask that question) and opened his mouth.

"Tetsu do you want…"

Just to be interrupted by a loud shriek.

"Aominecchi look out, the bludger!"

He looked back to see a ball that was too close to them for their own comfort and health. So he did the only thing that came to his mind, lifted his broom, swung and hit the ball far away with the end of his broom. The power of the hit made him step back and swing the broom back (he felt like it hit something, but maybe it was only his imagination). He stared as the small point flew away, far into the Slytherin stands.

Aomine whistled.

"Nice swing." Then he turned around. "What I tried to say is that maybe you want…"

But once again, he didn't get to finish his sentence as he spotted Kuroko sitting on the grass, with his palm glued to his forehead. And maybe it wouldn't be so bad. If only there wouldn't be so much blood on the boy's face, hand and shirt.

"Aomine-kun, you hit me with your broom…"

Even from his position he could hear Midorima shouting.

* * *

"You are forbidden to get close to Kuroko at a distance of 9 feet!"

"I said it wasn't my fault. It was Kise who hit the ball too hard!"

"Don't blame me now, Aominecchi. It turned on it's own!"

Akashi, who was sitting between them both, lifted both his hands and they quieted down. Midorima pursued his lips into a thin line and crossed his hands.

"Please all, be a little bit more quiet, I can't think like that!"

"Oh I can't also think… how can you injure one person accidentally three times in last three weeks!?"

And so the fight rose again.

"I told you it was an accident. I didn't want to hurt Tetsu!"

Aomine was conscious of the serious glare, of slightly closed eyes, of that small vein on Akashi's forehead. He saw it in the corner of his eyes. But it didn't stop him from shouting. It was all Midorima's fault, that dumb jerk, accusing him and stuff.

"Yeah right!"

"I'm speaking the honest truth!"

But it was probably the limit for Akashi's patience, because suddenly he moved his hand to his waist, took out his wand and without muttering a single word, pointed the end of it to the ceiling. The was a sudden burst of red light and a loud screeching sound, making them all shut up and cover their ears.

When the light and sound was over, they all turned to Akashi with a slightly annoyed look.

"I don't care now if it was Daiki fault or not but until our match on Saturday please refrain from getting close to Tetsuya…"

So Akashi knew him too? What the heck? And he was even calling him by his name.

Aomine wanted to argue, wanted to do something but one look of that murderous glance shut him down. So he slumped down on the chair, like a kid and pouted.

"We'll think of what to do with Tetsuya and Daiki after the match, I can't allow my teammate…"

But Aomine didn't listen to their talk. He sank further into his couch trying to understand what was that weird feeling he had whenever he was meeting Tetsu.

* * *

Akashi was holding onto his word very tightly.

Aomine saw Tetsu next day, when he was walking inside the Great Hall. He quickly glanced at Ravenclaw's table no sight of Midorima and Satsuki. This was his chance to apologize for the third time for the last three weeks for injuring one and the same person (man, he was getting used to saying sorry).

So he stood up, but surprisingly someone brushed past him and was the first to catch the bluehaired boy. And it was none other than their keeper.

Kuroko lifted his head when the giant approached him and oh, his eyes lightened up, the way it did when he saw someone familiar or a friend and Aomine couldn't stop that stinging feeling that strucked his heart in that second.

Like one time, this boy was a total stranger and now suddenly everyone from his team were friends with him. He could understand Midorima, Satsuki and Kagami. He could totally understand Akashi. He even could understand that Kise knows Kuroko. But why was Murasakibara also friends with him?! Someone please explain it to him.

The purplehaired man turned and stared at him. He moved his lips, mimicking speaking. But Aomine understood what he said, he understood it all too well.

 _9 feet._

You have to be kidding…

* * *

Only a few more days. He could live a few more days. To tell the truth, he wasn't so sure why he wanted to talk with the bluehaired boy. It wasn't like they were best buddies or anything like that. It wasn't like he really need to apologize. He just wanted… to spend time with him.

Man, there really was something wrong with him. Maybe he should take some potion? No, probably a dumb idea to do so.

He could only observe from far away as Midorima chat with him, as Kise occasionally walks by to give him a hug or when he walks away with Kagami to classes. Why was he even observing those things? He had better things to do! Like his broom, there was definitely something wrong with it. On the last practice it was turning left on its own. In that state they wouldn't win!

"It's only four more days, you'll live through it Daiki…"

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say."

Akashi, who sat with both him and Murasakibara, sighed. Aomine rarely saw him do that.

"Don't act like a child, Daiki. We have more important things to think about. Like your broom…"

Yeah that matters.

"I don't think you should use it on Saturday's match…"

"Why not?" He asked even though he knew the answer. Not to mention he was thinking about it just a few minutes ago.

"It's dangerous. I don't want to get you or any of our teammates hurt…"

"But I don't have money nor will to buy another one. I won't use those old brooms we have in storage!"

Akashi put away the bowl.

"I'll think about something…"

Murasakibara only munched his cereals.

* * *

On Friday, it finally hit the rock bottom, when his broom just suddenly turned around making him fall to the ground. It wasn't very high, so he only got a few bruises, but it still was not nice.

Aomine lifted himself up from the cold ground and grabbed the broom that landed (or fell down) next to his body. He gave it a nice, harsh shake and started yelling.

"What is wrong with you!?"

But the broom being broom didn't answer him. It still was a little devastated, old, dirty, but his favourite, his old friend broom.

"It won't answer you!" Yelled Kagami flying past him and stopping behind.

"I know, and it's pissing me more than it should!"

Kagami shook his head and flew away.

Aomine gritted his teeth and stared intensively at his broom. But nothing happened.

He cursed aloud and threw it on the ground.

* * *

He was mad, like literally furious. The match was next day (or maybe it was already today, Aomine got lost track of time) and there was everything wrong with his life. His broom was acting weird, he couldn't meet with Tetsu, the teachers were being mean to him, giving too much homework and now he was lost in his freaking damn school.

Aomine hit the wall, hard and a few pieces of concrete fell down from it. He was angry. Angry at his broom, angry at Akashi for forbidding meeting with Tetsu, angry that he was lost, angry at just everything.

And definitely angry at the lack of sleep due to that damn bluehaired boy.

"Please refrain from punching the wall. We're trying to sleep here…" Said some lady on the portrait and Aomine only glared at her, shutting her mouth in that one movement.

He growled, put his hands in the pocket of his robe and moved further into the building cursing loudly, because surprisingly there was everything wrong with his world.

He found his dormitory at three at the morning with everyone already asleep.

* * *

And of course he freaking overslept! Of course, fate-be mean to him!

Aomine jumped out of the bed due to the loud cheering sound coming from their window, or to be precise, from the ground beneath their window. From the main gate, there was a long serpentine of students wearing oversized hats, holding giant foam hands with one finger pointed to the sky and magical vuvuzela (that were not only loud, but also a hella lot glittery).

Yeah, typical day when they had a match. Well just before a match!

Fuck his life.

Aomine gathered and put on the first clothes he found in his trunk and put them on (some old shirt and even older trousers, but heck he will change his clothes in the changing room) and reached to grab his broom from under the bed. Unless it wasn't there.

Great, just great. He threw it on the ground yesterday and walked away. It could be anywhere by now! That broom was mean enough to fly off somewhere on its own. And Aomine didn't have the time to search all school grounds for it.

He didn't count the swears that left his lips that noon when he was putting on his shoes and then running through the corridors, pushing away the students like there was no tomorrow.

Because there would be no tomorrow if he will be late. They didn't have any player to replace him (they didn't even have enough players to fill the three spots of chasers in their team).

He bumped into some girl and he apologized quickly, but couldn't stay long enough to check if she was alright.

If only his broom was there, he could fly to the stadium, but no…

It was hard to run, curse and get through the crowd of students awaiting to be let inside the stands at the main gate just next to the field.

Aomine had enough of it. He was literally yelling for them to let him pass (he even kicked a few people). He was a very important player, he was supposed to be there a long time ago, already changed and speaking with their damn Akashi captain. But no, he was trapped inside a giant crowd, with people cheering for him, even though he was just next to them.

Great way to start a match.

"Move you idiots!"

But no use, the crowd was even more tense than before when the rest of the students joined.

It was so hot here. Everyone was pushing everyone. Aomine was swung from side to side, his chest and body was almost crushed under the wizards that were so desperate to see the match.

He had enough of it.

He somehow reached to his waist to took his wand and cast a spell, any spell would be fine. But of course, his wand was also not with him. He left it yesterday under his pillow when he finally returned to the dormitory.

Someone kicked him accidentally in the knee making it bend. Some other person corrected it with the punch to the face.

Now Aomine had murderous whims. He finally understood why Akashi had sometimes that glint in his eyes whenever they were arguing. If this situation resembled even in a little bit of what they were doing then he couldn't blame him anymore. He would even forgive all the times he casted a weird spell on him.

But he needed to get out of there somehow.

His eyes were hurting to the point where he wasn't able to see where he was going now. He got another hit to his liver. And before he could think that the situation can't get worse, they opened the gates to the stands.

Oh great…

Aomine gritted his teeth and prepared himself to be thrown around people, punched, hit and touched in places he didn't want people to touch him.

But nothing like that happened. Well nothing what he imagined happened. He still felt a pressure on him from behind and front of him, but now he was moving slowly forward, maneuvering between wizards, students and teachers like he was a ghost or some small pollen on the wind.

He felt that someone was holding firmly onto his hand and when he glanced down he could see a small, pale hand holding his own, much bigger tanned palm. He looked up and for a brief second he saw a flash of baby blue hair.

And he couldn't stop the grin spreading on his lips.

In just a few minutes, he was out of the crowd and hidden inside the wooden construction of the stands.

"We'll get to the changing room this way…" Murmured the boy quietly, when they were far away and beneath from the loud and overjoyful crowd.

Aomine could only nod and allowed himself to be guided for the rest of the way.

The boy suddenly halted when they met a wall formed by a thin, reddish material. The boy kneeled and lifted it. They both walked under it to the next part.

And here he was, inside their changing room.

He gaped with wide eyes at the clothes his teammates left, at his own uniform that hang on the hook, ready for him to be changed.

"Wow…" Was the only thing he said.

"You better change your clothes fast, they're already waiting for you…"

Aomine nodded and moved to the corner. He quickly got rid of the old shirt and even older trousers for the nice touch of silk uniform with the giant emblem of their school on their backs. It was smelling so nice, they were probably cleaned recently.

When he was putting his protective gears on his legs and arms Kuroko was doing something on the ground with his back turned at him.

The boy stood up and glanced at his uniform one more time. Everything was perfect. He moved to the exit, where he could see the field, filled stands, could feel the sun, the hot air and feel the emotions that were ruling the place and was just about to walk onto the field. But something stopped him.

"My broom!"

Aomine turned around to look at his clothes, but his friend wasn't there. What should he do? He can't play without the broom. He can't just run on the grass and yell 'Pass to me, pass to me!'. That would be ridiculous.

"Way ahead of you…"

Aomine looked at bluehaired boy or to be precise at his hands where he held his old, dirty, but still beautiful and fast broom.

"Where did you get it from?" He asked in amazement when his hand touched the soft wood, he was so used to. Holding it was so nice. In just one moment all anger from yesterday disintegrated into thin air.

"I collected it yesterday when you dashed out. I checked it and it should now work perfectly so you don't have to worry…"

There came a loud cheering sound from the exit and Aomine's heart bumped faster. He was ready, he was excited. He wanted to run out, jump on his old friend and start this match.

But he also wanted to stay there.

"Go, they're waiting for you!"

Aomine glanced back and then returned to look at his friend.

"Will you be cheering for us?" He asked even though the answer was probably pretty obvious.

So Kuroko rolled his eyes playfully.

"Of course. I can't cheer for the other team…"

But this still wasn't enough. But the crowd was getting loud and even the referee called the teams out on the ground.

"Can I meet you after a match?"

"Sure…"

And with that weird grin glued to his face, Aomine run out to the field.

* * *

They won, but huh this was an incredible match. Till the end of the match, he wasn't sure if they would be able to actually win. He and Midorima tried really hard to score points, but the opponent team had good players too, every point of their team was followed by a point coming from their side. They fought hard.

So when Akashi finally caught the golden snitch and the referee blew her silver whistle Aomine felt exhausted to the point where landing was hard for him and a few meters above the ground his broom slowed down, like it was afraid Aomine would fall down.

But fortunately, he didn't.

He saw Kise and Kagami flying and then jumping down, yelling like there was no tomorrow and jumping at Murasakibara who also landed with them. Then they both somehow got Midorima into their weird hug, then even Akashi was forced inside.

And Aomine, Aomine jumped a top of them all, yelling loudly 'we won, we won, we won!'.

Man, he was so happy.

They all moved to the changing room, singing loudly.

Aomine quickly changed his clothes. He was so happy about the match, but he was also over excited about another thing. The rest of the team paid no attention to him, already deciding where they should hang out that evening to celebrate.

In just a few minutes, he was ready to go.

"And where are you going Daiki?"

Aomine jumped. He was sure that no one paid attention to him, but it looked like he was wrong. Of course Akashi was the one to see his weird behavior.

"I have a meeting with Tetsu…"

Akashi only nodded.

"Join us in the evening to celebrate. Also don't forget about tomorrow's morning practice. I have a surprise for all of you."

Aomine nodded and moved to the cloth and when no one was looking (beside Akashi) he slipped under it into the corridor. There was no one there.

Ah right, he didn't say where they should meet. Great Aomine Daiki wasn't so great.

He started walking slowly through the under stands corridors looking around. But there was no sight of Tetsu nor anyone. And he slowly started to feel that it was too hot here for his own comfort. Thinking about every other place where he could find his bluehaired soon-to-be companion, he lifted the cloth and went out. He stood on the Grounds near the second entrance. Many students passed him and shouted to him, congratulating on the victory, but Aomine didn't paid it much attention. Of course he answered all of them, but he had more important things to do.

He started to walk around the field hoping to see him somewhere waiting.

But no luck, it almost looked like he had the cloak of invisibility on himself and just decided to disappear. After an hour of fruitless search, he decided to search for him in the school.

But it looked like it wasn't the case, because as soon as he stepped on the sandy road taking him to the school, he spotted the said bluehaired boy sitting on a stone with a book on his knees.

That little…

Aomine ran to him.

"I was searching for you for about an hour…" He whined when he was close enough for Kuroko to hear him.

The boy lifted his face from the book.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know where I should wait, so I decided to wait here in case you'll return to school…"

Yeah, Aomine didn't think about that, but it was his own fault for not thinking about it.

Some man passed by him and patted on the arm. He congratulated him on the last shot he made, then lifted his hand in the air and walked away shouting loudly and happily.

Daiki turned around and saw other people coming their way.

"Let's go somewhere where there are less people…"

Kuroko didn't say anything, only jumped from the rock and gathered his things to the small cloth bag on his arm. They started walking in the direction of the school, but before they walked inside the Northern Tower, they turned around and walked in the direction of the Owlery.

When they were far enough from the other students and left alone, Aomine finally decided to speak.

"So did you see the match?"

Kuroko looked at him like Aomine suddenly turned into a limax and started dancing.

"Of course I saw it. You made an amazing shot at the last second before Akashi-kun caught the snitch…"

Even though Aomine heard people praising him all this hour, hearing it from this boy made him feel like there was something hyperactive inside his stomach, like he just swallowed a whole diricawl that was flying around his belly.

"Thank you."

"Good luck on your next match."

Yeah, the next match was in two weeks. And they still didn't have a third keeper. This match was hard with only Midorima and him, what would they do when the next enemy will be even stronger?

"Everything was okay with the broom, right?"

Aomine nodded and lifted his old friend up. He was holding onto it since the end of the match. He wasn't sure why, but he was used to taking it everywhere with him.

"Yeah, it was acting great! What did you do?"

"I just took out the few white ants that made a comfy home inside of it and also put a protecting spell on it. The termites were making it nervous and uncomfortable…"

So that was the case.

Aomine lifted the broom and slowly patted the handle. The faded golden letter was almost invisible for other people's eyes, but he read the name so many times it engraved its name in his heart, body and mind.

"Also, I think it was nervous, because it heard you talk about buying a new broom."

That was surprising.

"Really?"

Well, he talked about it with Akashi, but mostly because of the fact that it started to act weirdly all of a sudden. He never really thought about giving up on it.

"I never meant to leave you." He said it more to the broom than to himself or Kuroko. He felt like it twitched.

"But it should be alright now."

Aomine turned and patted the smaller boy's head. His hair was soft and nice. It left a nice tingling feeling on his palm.

"Thanks Tetsu."

"No problem. But you did want to talk about something right?"

Aomine kicked the rock that was lying in the grass. Yeah, that was true, but also not the whole truth. He just wanted to go for a walk… with Tetsu… specifically Tetsu, no one else. Why was he feeling like that? Was it normal?

"I'm sorry one more time for injuring you. But this time as the other two times I didn't mean it…"

He heard a low chuckle and saw as the boy covered his lips. He doesn't often see him do that (besides the fact that he didn't know him for long).

"I know. It was only an accident."

"Yeah, tell it to Midorima, Akashi and Kagami."

"Yeah, they could be a little bit overprotective in that matter…"

They stopped near the owlery and Aomine looked up at the top of the high tower. He didn't have an owl, every letter he got from his parents was brought by their owl, so he rarely visited this place.

"Do you want…"

But Kuroko already moved, walked up few stairs and opened the giant, ebony doors.

"Yeah, I need to send a letter to my Dad."

Aomine nodded and followed him inside. He expected that when they close the doors the birds will start screeching, tweet or do every other sound owls can make. But nothing like this happened. A few of them only opened their lazy eyes when they walked past them but that was all.

Kuroko walked to the second floor and moved to the niche on the left. Inside of it slept small white and black owl. When boy approached him or her it opened its blue eyes and moved its wings. He or she flew few centimeters up and landed on the boys arm.

"Aomine-kun this is Nigou my owl, Nigou this is Aomine-kun."

He wasn't sure if he should walk closer and pet its head or just show him his hand. In the end he decided to slowly pet it on the back.

Kuroko took a small letter from the bag that was tied with a golden ribbon and tied it to the owl's leg. He moved to the thin window without glass and murmured something to the owl and then put his hand out. The owl took off and flew away into its known direction.

The boy turned around.

"Shall we go?"

Aomine nodded and allowed Kuroko to walk first on the stairs.

He really enjoyed these few minutes he was allowed to spend with the boy and he didn't understand why he wanted to spend more of it with him. Just talking with the boy, being near him was making him very happy. For the first time in his entire life he was feeling like that. What could it be?

It's not like he didn't like spending time with his teammates, but there was something different with walking around the grounds with this much smaller boy.

But what was the feeling that rose inside of him whenever the boy was staring at him?

They moved to the front door and Aomine opened them for the boy. He only bowed a little in gratitude.

Maybe they should hang out more? Yes, that would be definitely nice and totally nothing wrong with it. It was normal to spend his free time with people that he liked right? Right.

Aomine turned to Kuroko to ask him if he want meet tomorrow after practices. And he was glad that he did, because at the same time as he opened his mouth Kuroko made the first step on the stair and some weird cat decided to suddenly run under his legs. So the boy changed direction of his step and missed one step.

Why was this happening to them?

The Gryffindor player jumped at the boy and embraced him in thigh hug, but made them both fell down much faster than they should.

Aomine felt as his back hit the cold concrete. But that wasn't all.

They were quickly rolling down on the stairs, bumping into the stone and each other and when the stairs ended, they were still moving on the grass.

Well if maybe it wasn't so painful to fall from the stairs then Aomine could laugh at it. But there was nothing funny about finally stopping in the middle of nowhere, with the ground under him and person atop on him.

Aomine had his eyes closed shut. His hand were wrapped around the smaller boy waist and only when he felt that they weren't moving he could loosen the grip.

Man this was really bad luck, maybe he really was cursed?

He slowly opened his eyes. His head was still a little bit dizzy, but it could process that Kuroko's face was very close to his own. He could literally feel warm breath coming from his nose on his cheeks.

Wow, that is embarrassing.

Aomine exhaled the air.

After a mere second, Kuroko's eyes flipped open. He blinked a few times, like his eyes still wasn't used to that sudden halt and he loosen up his lips that until now were tighten.

And boom this is where it happened. Their lips just suddenly and barely brushed.

And Aomine felt like someone just fired the explosive enterprises inside his head and stomach. His whole world swirled around and the only thing he could feel was that soft touch on his lips and his cheeks got hotter and hotter. His hands that were still on boy's back became sweat and heavy, like they suddenly turned into stone.

And Kuroko's eyes that were still staring right at him were suddenly so big.

Then the boy jumped (this was the most frantic thing he saw him do for the past three weeks) and rolled off of Aomine's body.

"I'm sorry, it was my fault. I didn't meant to do it." It was also the first time he heard him speak so fast and disconnectedly.

But Aomine wasn't processing what was happening. He tried to understand why this sudden touch made him so happy.

He turned around to Kuroko to say something to him, but he was already getting up and collecting his books. He threw his half-opened bag on the arm, bowed and literally ran away in the direction of the school.

Aomine sat on the ground for a few more minutes contemplating what actually happened and why was his body acting so weird at that idea.

* * *

Aomine didn't see Kuroko that day. He hoped to see him inside the Great Hall where everyone was celebrating their victory with alcohol and non-alcohol drinks.

Aomine was happy, sure he was but somehow his brain stopped midway. So he sat there next to Kagami and Kise, listened to their shouts of victory still holding the same, barely touched butterbeer. Somewhere around 2 a.m. he saw a familiar lump of baby bluehaired somewhere near the entrance, but when he ran there he was already gone.

He looked around hoping that he might see him sneaking somewhere, but no use. Aomine facepalmed himself and then massaged his eyes. What was happening to him?

"Running after your crush?"

The boy turned around to spot his heterochromatic captain leaning on the giant doors leading to the Great Hall. He had his arms crossed on the front of black robe. The green Slytherin tie was perfectly tied on his neck.

But the only word Aomine heard was 'crush, crush, crush…'.

"Tetsu is not my…" He automatically started, but stopped midway. Because he was freaking out, he wasn't sure of what he meant first to say was truth. What if maybe… there is a little chance…

"Yeah, riiiiight… I saw him walk to the Ravenclaw tower but I don't think he will be coming out until morning."

That Akashi was right?

Oh my God… OH my God!

"Are you listening to me Daiki?"

But Aomine covered his mouth and started with feared eyes and his smaller captain.

"What if you're right?"

The boy looked at him, then lifted one of his eyebrows and then facepalmed himself.

"I can't believe you didn't notice it…" He murmured behind his palm.

But Aomine still stared at him with a slightly scared look.

"At least one of you isn't so stupid." Akashi murmured, then walked to him and patted him on his arm. "Remember about tomorrow's practices."

And he left him alone with his own thoughts.

* * *

Aomine didn't sleep the rest of the night. He was laying on his bed with his eyes wide open and stared at the ceiling. Even if he was sleepy, he couldn't sleep. But he wasn't drowsy, so it wasn't the problem.

The memory repeated itself in his head over and over again. That soft touch, that nice smell, those wide, surprised eyes. It was his first kiss! Well, should he even count that as a kiss?

Maybe if it would be with someone else, he would brush that off and forget it in no time. But now, he couldn't.

Not when Akashi said that.

Crush. Aomine never had a crush on anyone. He knew that many people thought that he and Satsuki were a pair, but he never thought about her that way. She was his best sis, friend and all those things. He never had a crush on anyone, so he didn't know how it works.

But if that weird feeling inside his stomach whenever he spoke with him, that ridiculous blush, that happiness by spending time with him was what they call 'having a crush on someone', then he definitely was having a crush on Kuroko Tetsuya.

The problem was, if he felt the same way? From his emotionless face, he couldn't almost read a single emotion. Only when he was laying on top of him, he looked slightly surprised. He didn't remember if he was embarrassed, because he simply disappeared from his sight.

But he looked a little bit disorientated. If this meant nothing to him, then he would also brush it off, right? Aomine wasn't sure. It was the first time he saw the boy so much out of comfort zone. He could also ask Midorima or Kagami about him, but he didn't feel an urge to tell them that he accidentally kissed their friend.

Yeah, bad idea, very bad idea. He knew that they will found out sooner or later, but he preferred it to be later.

After a long few hours of overthinking, Aomine could only think about one thing.

* * *

And this is how he found himself getting up ridiculously early on that Sunday morning and walking around the school with a pumping heart. Man, he can literally hear it in his own ears.

It was the first time he felt like that and the first time he decided to do something like that. But he really wants to see how this feeling will grow, needs to know if boy will accept this idea or not.

And simply because he really wants to spent time with Tetsu.

But with every step he felt less and less brave. When he stood up from his bed he was pretty confident, but now somehow his courage flew somewhere, far away, where Aomine couldn't reach it.

He was so close to that tower. Just one more step and he will be in front of those doors. But what then. He can't answer the eagle's ridiculous question. Of course he can hide and wait, but will Kuroko really go out?

There were too many holes in that miserable imitation of plan that Aomine felt ashamed of it. He can also catch up with him after breakfast right?

So he spun around and made a step.

To bump into someone.

He looked down, murmuring apologies, but stopped when he saw a lump of blue hair next to his body.

What? What was happening, what was he doing here? What! It was so early, that there was no single soul around school, but somehow the boy was in front of him now (it was also the first time Aomine woke up so early for someone).

The boy lifted his head probably wanting to apologize and his eyes shone with recognition.

"Ah, Aomine-kun, what are you doing here so early?" He asked in that monotone voice, like nothing happened. And Aomine was scared that maybe for Kuroko nothing really happened.

He found himself at a loss of words and voice, so he cleared his throat and in pretty hoarse voice said:

"I was… looking for you…"

"At 6 am on Sunday?"

Oh man, that was a really bad plan.

"Yes?"

Kuroko stared at him and Aomine could feel as if Kuroko could read every thought he was having now. The feeling was so strong that he tried to not think about anything. But it is hard when your 'crush' stands in front of you!

"Ah, okay then." This was all the boy said.

"But what are you doing here Tetsu. Should you be coming from the other side?"

"I was in the library in the evening and accidentally slept there…"

How can you accidentally sleep in the library? This boy was really… something.

"So you're probably drowsy. I won't stop you…"

"No, not really…"

And they both became silent, both staring at each other and expecting something, but neither Aomine nor Kuroko probably knew what it was.

Maybe it was the perfect time to ask it? So the tanned boy opened mouth:

"I'm sorry for what I did yesterday…"

This wasn't something Aomine wanted to hear. He stared as Kuroko bowed slightly and then looked back at him.

"No problem."

"It was my own fault for being so careless… So that's why I'm sorry."

To tell the truth, Aomine didn't want to hear those words, didn't want to hear Kuroko say that, because it made him think that he was the only person thinking too much about it. And before he knew it he simply blurted:

"Was it so bad? I mean the kiss…"

Ah, how much he wanted to slap himself for saying that outloud. But couldn't because Kuroko blinked.

"No, it wasn't. Well I don't have many experience in that matter because it was my first kiss…"

Oh man, that one sentence… that one sentence made his mind burst out. It was his first kiss, it was also Aomine's first kiss? Did it mean anything? He wasn't sure, but he was so happy.

But he definitely heard the soft whisper that followed the last sentence.

"It was… nice…"

Does it? Does it mean something?

Aomine stared as Kuroko slowly turn his head to the side and stared at the suddenly very interesting torch. His lips pulled into a line, eyes staring everywhere but him, but his cheeks. Oh man, his cheeks were in the color of beautiful soft pink.

And Aomine felt as his legs could bend beneath his body, to the point he needed to lean on the wall, because he seriously was afraid that he might fall.

Kuroko made a step forward and lifted his hand when he saw Aomine slide on the wall.

But he was simply too happy. So happy that he needed to sit down.

The Ravenclaw boy crouched next to him, eyes full of worry.

"That's why I'm sorry for what I did, it was probably bad…" Aomine wanted to shout at him to stop speaking, because it definitely wasn't bad, it was incredible, it was amazing but his throat was dry. "Can I do something to make up for it?"

This was it, this was the chance he was waiting for. He can't let this chance slip by.

So he cleared his throat and looked straight into the boy's two deep pools.

"Would you want… to go with me… this Saturday… to Hogsmead?" His voice was never so quiet, never so soft and he was scared that maybe the boy didn't hear it.

But he definitely heard it, because as soon as the word left his lips, the boy smiled softly and nodded.

"That would be cool…" He said.

And that moment Aomine felt like the happiest person in the entire world, or at least in the entire school. So he also grinned and spoke, but now more loudly and confident.

"So it's a date then!"

OMAKE

"Aomine, I will kill you as soon as we got out from this field…"

The boy gulped down the saliva at the low threat coming from behind it. It looked like somehow Midorima found out what happened yesterday and now very… very mad at him because surprisingly it was also his fault.

Did Kuroko told him that? Or maybe Akashi, because he literally knew everything.

"This one wasn't my fault…" He mumbled not looking back. He didn't want to see that murderous green irises right now. They had practice, he needs to focus on the practice.

"I don't care, but you'll die…"

Why was this happening to him?

But he couldn't say anything back because Akashi cleared his throat and looked at the papers he was holding in his hands.

"I think that everyone already knows, but today we officially have a new teammate. I introduced him to you three weeks ago, but due to… some accidents he wasn't able to practice with us since then. So please welcome one more time our new chaser – Kuroko Tetsuya."

And just like that, the said bluehaired boy walked from behind their captain and bowed.

"It will be a pleasure to work with you…"

Aomine's jaw dropped. What the heck?! Tetsu will be their new chaser? Like it's super-duper cool, but how? Why had no one told him that? And why did Akashi say that he already introduced him?

Midorima behind him chuckled, probably totally understanding what he was thinking about.

"Akashi introduced Kuroko the day you crashed into him, but you were too preoccupied with your broom that you didn't even notice him…"

Oh… oh… That was a giant plot twist.

THE END

* * *

And few infos, just in case there weren't clearly written in fic :3.

Kuroko - Ravenclaw, Chaser

Aomine- Gryffindor, Chaser

Midorima - Ravenclaw, Chaser

Kagami - Gryffindor, Beater

Kise - Hufflepuff, Beater

Akashi - Slytherin, Seeker

Murasakibara - Hufflepuff, Keeper

Well, in my opinion almost all of them are suited to be chasers, but I couldn't make all of them chasers, so I changed few positions.

Anyway... hope you enojyed this fic. I had a lot of fun writing it :3. Hope it brightened your day a little :3.

And of course great thanks to:

Scarlet - for checking it and being amazing and her warm words :3. You don't even know how important this is to me, so THANK YOU :3!

And thank you Reader for being here and reading it :3. You're amazing!

See ya! :3


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